Pump-base.



' T. M. SHEETS.

I PUMP BASE.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.14, 1911.

Patented Apr. 25, 1911.

Attorneys THE "cams PETERS cm, WA

WNTTE ram PUMP-BASE.

Application filed February 14, 1911.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS M. SHEETS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lexington, in the county of Davidson and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Pump-Base, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to pumps, and more especially to the supporting element for the pump bodies; and the object of the same is to produce an improved and sanitary base whereby the pump body may be mounted upon the flooring over the well or cistern in such manner that dirt and dust will be excluded from the hole through such flooring but air may enter to aerate the water. 4

To this end the invention consists in the details of construction hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and as shown in the drawings wherein Figure 1 is a central vertical section through this improved pump base. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof with a part of the guard in place and the remainder broken away.

In the drawings, the numeral 5 designates the bed flange having through it holes 6 for the screws or bolts by which this improved base is held upon the flooring which usually covers the well or cistern, such flooring of course having a hole through it for the passage of the suction pipe that leads downward from the pump itself. The flooring, the pipe, and the pump are all omitted from the drawings because these features are well known in the art. Rising from and integral with the inner edge of said flange 5 is a curb 7 which in the preferred form of my improved pump base is frusto-conical in shape and may be two or three inches high; and rising also from said flange 5 is a series of converging ribs 8 which, if the curb is frusto-conical as shown, are preferably cast upon the outside of said curb and therefore strengthen and protect it. If the curb be two or three inches high, the ribs are four or six inches long, the idea being that they shall rise to about twice the height of the curb; and their upper ends are connected by an integral top plate 9 forming the top of this improved base. This plate has through it a central aperture or hole 10, herein shown as screw threaded for the reception of the lower end of the pump body not illustrated.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Fatented Apr. 25, 1911.

Serial No. 608,570.

If desired the lower end of this opening or hole may have a thread 11 of another size for the reception of the suction pipe not illustrated. The top 9 may also be pierced with other holes 12- for any purpose desired, although if so they should be closed by some removable plug or cap not shown. The flange 5, curb 7, ribs 8, and top 9 are by preference all cast of one piece of iron, and the same may be japanned, galvanized, or otherwise treated to prevent rust. The size, outlines, and specific details of structure are not essential.

A second feature of this improved base consists of the shield or guard 15 which may well be made of sheet iron, also treated to prevent rust, and whose body in shape is that of a large inverted cup, possibly having a rib or bead 16 around its open lower end which stands at some distance outside of the curb 7 and at about half the height of the latter. The upper end of this guard (or what would be the bottom of the cup) passes over the upper extremities of the ribs 8 and is formed with a large central aperture which fits upon a shoulder 17 preferably formed in the act of casting the top 9. In Fig. 2 the upper edge of the guard is shown as carried a little farther inward as at 170, and screws or other devices 180 may be passed through it into the top 9 to hold it removably thereon. In this view also the bed flange 5 is shown as provided with cars pierced with holes 60, instead of forming the holes 6 directly through the flange 5. These, however, are mere details of structure which are matters of preference, and may be adopted by the manufacturer without departing from the spirit of my invention.

The object of a pump base of this character, as has already been stated. is to prevent dirt and dust from getting into the well and yet permit the water therein to be aerated. It is well known that the working man or farmer coming to the well in his dirty or muddy boots, often stumbles against the pump body where it passes through the hole in the well flooring, and as a result many particles of dirt are dislodged from his boots and in time some of them will fall through the hole into the well and contaminate the water therein perhaps with disastrous effects if he has just come from the barnyard where the germs of typhoid fever are supposed to lurk.

\Vith a stout cast iron curb 7 rising from the well. flooring for some considerable distance, it is impossible for him to dislodge dirt from his shoes, no matter how careless he may be, which will fall into the well. Again, the guard 15 prevents the housewife from dropping anything in the openings between the ribs 8 and into the well, and prevents insects from flying into the same; but in order to carry out this last named idea even though the guard 15 may be removed,

I provide the pump base on its interior with 1 a wire gauze 20 secured thereto as by staples or other devices 21, and I prefer to place this on the interior in order that the boots and other foot wear may not strike against and injure it.

All parts are preferably of metal, constructed as above described.

VVha-tis claimed is:

The herein described pump base, the same comprising an annular bed flange having holes for the passage of screws for attaching it to a support, a frusto-conical unbroken curb rising integrally from the inner edge of said flange, a series of ribs converging upward from and integral with said flange and extending along the outer side of said curb and above its upper edge, and a top integrally connecting the upper ends of all said ribs and having a threaded hole through its center for the reception of the pump body and an annular shoulder at its upper edge; combined with a guard of inverted cup-shape with a hole in its upper end resting on said shoulder and its lower end descending outside said ribs and curb to a point midway of the height of the latter, and a screen secured around the interior of said curb and said ribs.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

THOMAS M. SHEETS.

Vitnesses Z. I. IVALSER, V. M. Koon'rs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. C. 

